Systemic racism: It’s even present in the way we gather data.
Dr. Kyler Sherman-Wilkins, assistant professor of sociology at Missouri State University, recently gained grant funding to incorporate anti-racism modules into his statistics and methods course. He works to empower more people of color on the university’s campus and one step is incorporating anti-racism into the curriculum.
The grant funding will be used to assist with resource building and professional development.
“A lot of what we know from our studies of race, ethnicity, the impacts of racism and how structurally racism is perpetuated comes from carefully crafted studies, so that involves having really good methods,” Sherman-Wilkins said.
The course will officially be offered in fall 2021, noted Sherman-Wilkins, but he and fellow colleague Dr. Katie Hoegeman will begin piloting some elements during the current semester.
They hope students can see how useful statistics fit into the larger picture – even if the students don’t expect statistics to be part of their career paths.